Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
A well-known financial adviser who gained countrywide prominence on national radio is facing a lengthy series of criminal charges relating to allegations of theft and fraud.
Clare Dooley, the founder of mortgage debt firm MoneyBloom, was, until last summer, the resident financial adviser to Newstalk’s Global Village show.
An outspoken campaigner for mortgage write-downs, Ms Dooley was a regular speaker at public meetings on mortgage debt alongside representatives from other debt campaigning groups such as New Beginning.
She began her Newstalk radio slot – on which she advised home owners about debt and financial issues – in 2011, but is no longer on the station.
A Garda investigation into allegations of fraud and theft, has now resulted in 114 criminal charges against her.
Ms Dooley was arrested on February 13, by detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and charged with 38 counts of theft, 38 counts of forgery and 38 counts of use of a false instrument under sections 4, 25 and 26 of the Criminal Justice (theft and fraud offences) Act 2001.
She is currently on bail and is due to appear before the Circuit Criminal Court on June 29, for arraignment on the alleged offences.
During her time at MoneyBloom, Ms Dooley is understood to have advised hundreds of clients in debt and helped secure several significant mortgage write-downs from banks.
Originally founded as Smile Ireland, the MoneyBloom business was run through Dooley Financial Services Ltd – a company owned jointly by Ms Dooley and her husband Patrick.
MoneyBloom was licensed as an insurance intermediary by the Central Bank.
Last September, MoneyBloom was one of the corporate sponsors of the Drogheda Chamber Of Commerce awards launch.
Two weeks ago, Dooley Financial Services held a creditors meeting and Ian McKeown was appointed as a liquidator.
In a statement released to media afterwards, a spokesman for Ms Dooley said new owners had taken over the aspects of the business relating to MoneyBloom.
Originally from Glasgow, Ms Dooley began her career working on cruise ships before moving to Ireland in the late 1990s.
According to a video she posted on YouTube, she worked in a building society dealing with mortgages before qualifying as a financial adviser in 2005.
Together with her husband, she set up The Gallops Bar & Restaurant Ltd at the Julianstown Inn in 2008, the same year they set up another firm called Dooley Childminding Services Ltd.
Dooley Financial Services was incorporated in 2006 and traded initially under the name Smile Ireland.
In 2011, Smile Ireland changed its name to MoneyBloom and, later that year, Ms Dooley began her Newstalk slot – a move that ensured a national profile in the mortgage crisis arena.
In 2013, she and her husband, who has a background in aviation sales, set up DPS Aircraft Spares Ltd. The couple resigned as directors of the company last week. Last year the couple registered the business name Aerosupport & Consulting at the couple’s home in Co. Meath.
